The Cage
by Zombie Misanthropy
Summary: They're killers, they were sent to prison but when they're invited to a game called The Cage, what will they do? 6 murderers haunted by their pasts meet. If they survive, they're free but if they lose, will they only lose their freedom? AU,dark, all human
1. Prologue

**A/n: This is the first story I post up on . However it is not the first story I have made(; Please be kind and constructive criticism is always welcomed. I don't intend any harm in anything said or done in this story, if anything offends you, I'm truly sorry.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own twilight, I only own my imagination.**

**Prologue**

Mom was an unstable woman. She would always say things that I never understood and I'd pretend to listen to her. She always brought a lot of men home and took away their money. At the time I didn't understand why she would do that and I didn't see how bad it really was. I really hated when she would do that, I didn't understand it but I felt it was wrong. Mom never hit me but she never cared for me, I always tried getting her attention but it was useless. It was like if she was denying my existence, I felt she didn't want me.

One day she took me to a carnival that was very far away. I was so happy that she decided to pay attention, little did I know what her true motives were..

I could hear the music loud and clear, the children running around laughing while eating cotton candy. I looked around, some kids on their father backs, having fun. I looked up to my mother who was looking around frantically. A bright red color floating through the air caught my attention, I turned around and saw a clown with balloons, I told my mom I'd be back after grabbing a balloon. By the time I got there all the balloons were gone, there was none left for me and when I turned around my mom was gone too, I was all alone.

_Mom, is there no balloons for me because I'm a child that nobody wants?_

I was a thirteen year old boy at a place I didn't know, and I didn't know where to go. Many times I was about to get caught by the police but I always ran away, I spent two days in the dangerous city until out of instinct and fear, I found my way back home. I hoped that my mom would be loving when she saw I was back home but instead I heard her fighting with a man and telling him that she abandoned me in the carnival. They were arguing about her cheating on him.

He got really pissed off and stabbed her, the man quickly ran away. When my mom saw me, she looked surprised. Then she started to ask for help. She told me to phone the cops for help and promised that once she got better she'd take me to the carnival.

_Mom, will you leave me there again?!_

Fear and something I didn't understand, took over and I ended up getting a knife and stabbing her, killing my own mother. I just stared at her, she died with her eyes open. Emotionless eyes, dull and staring right back at me.

_Don't look at me! You never looked at me… don't look at me now that you're dead!_

I ran and got tape, I taped all around her eyes. I got a marker and went around scribbling the eyes out of every portrait and mannequin around the house until every eye was covered.

_Mommy isn't looking at me anymore, it'll be alright if all the eyes are covered…_

Soon I heard the sirens of a cop car and there was loud banging on the door. They came in with guns pointing at me, but I wasn't scared because they couldn't see me, yes, all the eyes were covered.

**xxxxxxxxxxx**

I looked at my mother as she lay in bed, emotionless, completely dressed in black. She looked so peaceful and I wished it would always be like this, if she could stay peaceful forever. I knew it would change as soon as she woke up, she would yell at me and tell me it was all my fault that father died. Because if I hadn't told him that my mom received a call from the cop station then he wouldn't have gone to work and he wouldn't have gotten killed on duty.

I knew she was right, she was always right. It was my fault my dad had died, it was my fault my mom now suffered, it was my fault our family had broken apart. It was all my fault, and I knew it.

That day when my mom woke up she smiled at me and I was scared because I wasn't sure if I should smile back, I wasn't sure if her smile was a good thing. She got up and ordered me to go pack up my clothing. She said we were going far away and we'd be happy forever. I didn't ask her where we were going because it didn't matter as long as she smiled for me like that, as long as I could stay with her. So I packed up and we drove in her car. Soon after, she started talking nonsense and kept repeating how it would be fun and I'd love it.

She drove us away to a cabin where we were planning to come on the day my father died, before he died. She smiled and pulled me by the wrist into the house, she had a pale and very tired face.

"Bella, we're going far away sweetie, you'll love it." She said and hugged me so tight, I was sure I was going to have bruises. "You can even see your father, it'll be just like the old times and we can smile and laugh." She was stroking my hair now. "Yes, we will laugh."

"But mother, Charlie is dead. We can't see him any—" She wrapped her hands tightly around my throat and began choking me. To say I was afraid, was a huge understatement, I was truly horrified.

"Shut up!" She tightened her grip around my throat. "It's all your fault! if you hadn't said anything, if you had kept your mouth shut!" I tried to scream but i couldn't. "But it's okay, mother is so forgiving." She gave me a nasty smile. "Mother will let you come with us, and we can be happy, the three of us, laughing."

_Had my mother always been so violent?_

I tried taking her hands off of me, I didn't want to die yet. I blindly felt around the table until my hand grabbed a knife. I stabbed on her back and her hands loosened, but she didn't completely let go of me, I stabbed her again and she dropped to the floor. I was paralyzed, coughing and trying to breath normally again. I looked at her, she was laying in the floor, starring up into the ceiling with a huge smile in her face. She looked truly happy, as if she was thankful that I killed her.

_I killed her, oh no. I killed her, I killed my own mother._

I wanted to cry but the tears wouldn't fall down. Instead I stared at her as all the blood flooded out of her back. Soon her eyes glazed over. I poked her and she was cold, very cold. I just stared at her, I don't know how long I sat there just looking at her. I couldn't feel or hear anything, I could just see her blood pooling around me, encircling me, creeping over me as if trying to devour me with its crimson color.

The next thing I knew I was being pulled away from her, they were taking me away from all that I knew. My life was staying behind and I realized that it really didn't matter if my mother had killed me because my life as I knew it had already finished the day I told my father, there was a call from the station.

**A/N: The chapters will definitely be longer, i hope.****Hmm, if I get 10 reviews I'll post up the first chapter. I'm not doing this to bribe you into reviewing, im doing it so I can know whether this story is any good xD  
So If you like it, review~**


	2. The Cage

**A/N: So here's the first chapter, I don't know if I really like it, I know what I want it to be about but I'm not so sure I put it in words well. I do have a beta but she was busy and I didn't want to make you wait too long, so please excuse any errors I may have made.**

**I know I said I wasn't going to post up a new chapter until I got 10 reviews but I got a lot of story alerts and a couple author alerts so I figured people did like it, and that counts as well. I hope not to let you guys down .**

**Disclaimer:** **I don't own twilight or the characters. However, I do own this twisted game ;]**

"Murder is a hobby and a supreme pleasure."  
-Marquis de Sade

**Chapter 1: The Cage**

_CLANK CLANK CLANK_

I whipped my head around to see a guard hitting the bars of the cell. "Isabella Swan." He said my name and I just stared at him, in his hand he held a black envelope. "You've got mail, sweetie come get it I don't have all day!" He banged the bars once more before I got up and snatched the envelope from his hand. He gave me a disgusting smile and walked off.

I looked down at the envelope in my hands and wondered who it was from, I no longer had any relatives. The envelope didn't have a sending address, it was just all black. The back flaps were stuck together by some red liquid. I held my breath, I could smell the iron and salt and I scrunched up my nose. It was blood, a blood stamp.

She ripped the envelope open and threw it on the floor before opening the black paper in her hands. In fancy crimson letters it said:

Ms. Isabella Swan,

CONGRATULATIONS!

You are one of the 1 in 100,000 people who have entered

THE CAGE TOURNAMENT.

Thank you for participating in THE CAGE TOURNAMENT!

By breaking the seal on the envelope, you have formally acknowledged your desire to participate.

You can no longer withdraw your entry.

A representative will head your way soon to see if you have agreed or disagreed to participate.

Good luck!

I stared at the paper in front of me as if willing it to disappear. What kind of sick joke is this? I'm in prison for fucks sake, how the hell will I participate in any tournament? I shook my head and shoved the paper back in the forsaken envelope. I threw it all together outside the prison and it landed with a thud right next to a pair of shiny black dress shoes. I looked up to see a man in a black tuxedo, a mask over his face, crouch down and pick up the envelope.

He turned to me and said, "I take it you are Ms. Swan?" I just looked at him, not denying but not accepting it either. "You opened the envelope Ms. Swan, surely you know what that means." He said and a officer rushed over to open the cell. The man in tuxedo stepped in and I could hear his footsteps coming closer and closer as he approached me. "Now Ms. Swan, please follow me, I will escort you to _THE CAGE_."

He grabbed me by the arm and pulled me out of the cell, I shook my arm out of his grasp. "Ms. Swan, don't try anything sneaky." I rolled my eyes and followed him through the dark cold hall until two officers opened the big iron gates to let us out of the prison.

That was when it actually sunk in, I was into some sort of sick game. They didn't care whether I came from prison or not, they had the power to take me out of prison in order to join this game. This must be some big organization.

As the doors opened the rays from the sun slapped in the face and I immediately felt the warmth I hadn't felt in years, well 3 years to be precise. I blinked my eyes a couple of times to adjust to the brightness. Ahead was a black limousine, and a man was holding the door open for me. I turned to the man in the mask, he nodded and told me to get in.

And so I did. The windows of the limo were much too dark for me to see outside. I was nervous, I didn't know where they were taking me, hell I didn't even know who Ithey/I were. I tapped my foot impatiently on the floor of the limousine. After an hour or two, the car was stopped and the doors were opened by the masked man. I stepped out and gasped, in front of me was a humongous mansion surrounded by a fence with trees outside the fence, but that wasn't what made me gasp. Ahead of me were many people, both female and male starring right at me as I stepped out.

I stopped walking and the man in the mask turned to look at me before speaking, "Don't worry Ms. Swan, they are just participants." He gave me a reassuring smile that did nothing to reassure me. "They won't harm you, yet." I wanted to ask him exactly what he meant by that but a huge screen flicked on before us and everyone, including me, turned our attention to it.

A man with slick dark brown hair and a mask pops up on the screen. "Ladies and gentlemen, we want to extend to you a warm welcome for joining us here today." His voice was firm and full of authority. "Please call me Aro, I will be telling you the instructions of this round."

Everyone around me broke into whispers, I looked around and noticed all the people around me had prison uniforms. Shocked, I realized that this must be a game solely for prisoners, this couldn't be good.

The man in the screen broke me from my thoughts as he began speaking again. "Everyone please be quiet, I promise you will have time to ask questions and get to know each other." Everyone quieted as soon as they heard him speaking. Just as he was about to commence, a honk was heard and another black limousine came up, a man stepped out from the back seats and stared at us all, he gave a fierce look, and tilted his head so his bronze messy locks fell over his eyes, he clenched his fists 'til his knuckles turned white. The limousine then drove off.

"At this point, no further entries will be allowed." The man in the screen spoke, effectively gaining all of our attention. "Including the gentleman who just entered, there is a total of 52 participants gathered today. With that said, I will now explain the rules."

"You have all been gathered here because we want to give you the chance to live life outside of prison. For this, you must survive this 'game'. Now, before any of you start asking what game this is, I want to let you know that we don't respond for anyone's safety. With that said, I would now like to ask anyone who after hearing this would like to return to prison, to please step over the red line you see to the west and east, either line is fine. However I must warn you that if you decide to go back to prison and quit this game, you are now sentenced to life long imprisonment."

Everyone began whispering and shuffling around, some even screamed and cried. I was shocked, this was unfair. They made it so that unless you didn't mind living in prison for the rest of your life, you'd play this game. Some people began pushing and scattering over to the side lines.

A man with long black hair, many piercings and tattoos elbowed me in the stomach and I fell to the ground with a thud. I inwardly cursed and was about to pick myself up when a strong hand grabbed me gently by the arm and picked me up. I glared at the figure before me and realized it was the man who had come in late. Looking at him up-close, I could see he was beautiful, as weird as it sounded it seemed like the only word that could possibly come remotely close to describing him.

His messy hair was disheveled and sticking out in many directions. He had the most fascinating pair of green eyes, as soon as our gaze locked he turned around and let his locks cover his eyes. But before he could cover them I had already seen them, there was a hint of sadness to them. His eyes told you that he'd seen way too many things for his young age. He didn't look any older than 20, I would say he was about 18 or 19 and I'm usually really good at guessing ages, I'm actually really good at reading people.

But I knew better, this man came from prison, surely not one to be trusted. I glared at him and walked away, by the time I looked around there was only about ¾'s the population that was here before. Within the red lines stood mainly females and a couple of males. Some were crying and pouting while others were glaring at the screen.

I was considering walking over to the lines when I heard a velvety voice behind me whisper, "Don't do it." I turned around and saw that the smooth voice belonged to the beautiful asshole that helped me up earlier. I pretended I didn't hear him and stalked towards the line. When I was a few feet away from it, I stopped to think. Did I really want to spend the rest of my life in prison? Of course not. But what if this game was far more worse? Well what could possibly be worse than being in prison, even death seemed like a better choice at this point.

I turned to face the screen, determined to stay and win this game. It probably couldn't get any worse than prison after all, the laws would prevent that from happening, I'm sure.

"Very well then, I take it that those of you who went within the red lines are ready to quit." He nodded his head and limousines began picking up people within the red lines taking them back to prison, I assume.

After a couple of minutes everyone within the lines were gone and the only ones left were those of us who were willing to continue.

Aro cleared his throat and spoke, "Congratulations, those of you have decided to stay. Now, please enter the mansion for further instructions." With that, the screen went black and the doors to the mansion opened, everyone was still for a couple of seconds before they began walking towards the entrance. I followed inside.

I expected the place to be super fancy and dripping with riches but instead we found ourselves in a empty room. Well partially empty, in the center was a fancy chair with the same masked man that was on the screen sitting on it. In front of him was a large table with papers lying on it. We all filtered in and the doors were closed.

"There are now only 40 of you present, 12 participants have quit. The rules of this game are simple. As mentioned before, all you have to do is survive. You have to show us you are capable of surviving."

The spokesperson was interrupted by a petite girl with spiky short black hair bouncing up and down.

"I have a question," She said, "What exactly do we have to survive?"

"Good question, I was just getting there. As you may have seen, around this mansion is a forest. That is where you will survive, you can use anything that is outside of this mansion within the limits of the border fence surrounding this place. I must warn you, that not only are you fighting against the wildlife around here, there are all sorts of Ithings/I, amongst those you have to fight each other. I'm sure you have heard of Survival of the fittest. Well you will apply that to this game and we'll see how it goes."

Everyone disrupted into whispers, each voicing their opinions. In my opinion everyone should shut up and let him continue explaining, I thought sourly to myself.

"This game will start tomorrow you now know the rules, survival is top priority. Each of you must walk to the table before me and find your name on the tags lying there. Please do so now."

Some people rushed to grab their tags, but I just waited until it got less crowded.

_Jessica Stanley, Ashley Cortez, Mike Newton, no, no, no, no._

I looked on the far side of the table and caught glimpse of my last name, aha. Just as I was about to reach it, another hand snatched it. I looked and saw the pixie-like girl from before holding it in her hands. She saw me staring at her and smiled.

"Is this yours?" She asked, she was cute and definitely did not seem like the kind of girl who would be in prison, but sure enough she had a nasty prison uniform. I simply nodded, she looked at me and placed it in my hand. "I'm Alice, its good to meet you." She extended her hand once more, waiting for me to shake it. I stared at her as I shook her hand. "Do you not talk?" She asked me, concern evident in her face. I wondered if she was putting up an act. Luckily before she could ask any further, she spotted her name tag and the spokesman, aro, I think it was, began speaking again.

"Each of you have your own rooms for tonight. As I said before the game starts tomorrow, there is food coming soon, please feel free to eat as much as you want. Afterwards, go through those doors," he said pointing to the doors at the east , where yet another masked man was standing. "and you will find the number on your name tag. That number represents the room you will be staying at. There will be anything you may need inside the rooms, also you will find clothing to your size in their. Everything else will be said to you tomorrow. Good night, be sure to sleep and eat enough for it may be the last time you do so."

With that he stood up and walked into the west doors where i assumed it was he was staying. Four long tables full of food were strolled in by masked men. Not many people went to eat, some just stood where they were, others sat on the ground, and a few of us actually went to eat. I noticed the spiky haired girl rushed over to the food and started eating some fruit. I chuckled to myself and headed for the food table. The food looked delicious but I couldn't help wondering if maybe the food was poisoned, after all this was testing our survival. I decided to take a chance and went for some chicken.

After eating to my hearts content, I decided to head over to my room. As I was walking, Alice, the spiky haired girl trailed behind me. I turned to look at her and saw that the same beautiful bastard from before was next to her, he looked puzzled. I lifted an eyebrow questioningly and she sprinted over to me.

"Remember me, Isabella?" Of course, I do. I just met her, I nodded and she frowned. "You have to talk to me. Nodding is no good." She looked at me and after I said nothing she sighed and gave up. "Fine, for now it will do. So I was thinking that this wouldn't be so bad if I made a couple friends, I mean it'd raise our survival rate up." She said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, which it probably was if it was allowed in the rules, which we still did not know.

"I met Edward here, and he decided to tag along with us, isn't that great?" I looked at her confused, did she say 'us'? I don't remember ever agreeing. "Yes, that's great alice, you're a genius." She answered herself and giggled. "Well then, I'll meet you guys tomorrow, make sure to rest so we can be very energized tomorrow!" She winked and walked down the hall, leaving me and Edward alone.

I turned and walked to my room, Edward just stared until I stepped inside and was out of his sight. I sighed and jumped into the bed.

_This is going to be a long night._

**A/N: okay so this chapter wasn't that eventful but it is needed for the action coming up in the next few chapters. **

**Leave me a nice review! I promise to reply to every review I get(:**


	3. Tortured Little Girl

**Disclaimer: I don't own twilight or the characters, however I own a pair of very annoying and cute cockatiels that don't let me concentrate on my chapters xD**

**A/N: Okay so I got encouraging reviews and more story alerts! This chapters got some action but the next one will have plenty more ;D**

**I want to thank chocome126 for her support. **

**Enjoy!**

"You twisted little girl,  
Showing them what life is all about.  
Where did all the time go? Everywhere its gone, gone, gone."  
-Julian Casablancas

**Chapter 2: Tortured little girl**

**Saturday, February 16  
**

That night, like every other night, I had the same horrid nightmare. My mother was desperately trying to choke me, she had a wicked smile. She told me we'd be happy, she said I'd love it. I killed her, and I stayed next to her, by her side. The blood enveloped me, its stench invading my nostrils until the scent penetrated and that was all I could smell, everything turned crimson red, like mothers blood. I was trapped in a never ending well of blood. I was falling down, into nothingness all I could see was crimson, my heart felt like it was being squeezed, very tight and I was falling, deeper, deeper, deeper. Until a piercing scream woke me up.

I covered my mouth with my hands, realizing it was me who had screamed. I stayed in a sitting positions for a while before my sobs calmed down and the images of the nightmare dissipated. I untangled my legs from the bed sheets and threw them to the side, I made my way to the bathroom. My feet hit the cold ground, I walked to the mirror and I sighed as I saw a pair of swollen brown eyes staring back at me. I opened the sink and splashed water on my face. I turned and saw towels neatly stacked on the counter.

After a much needed shower, I put on my undergarments and decided to wear some black jeans that I found in the closet. They were prefect, not too stretchy but stretchy enough to allow me to move around. I had to take whatever was necessary in case this was the last time I came into this room. I put on a grey shirt that had the words "The cage" printed on the back, I rolled my eyes and grabbed the first sweater on the closet. I put on some shoes and explored the rest of the room.

About 30 minutes later there was a knock. I opened the door and a masked man told me to come out into the same room as yesterday within the next 10 minutes. I nodded and he left, I put on the sweater I had gotten earlier and exited the room.

There was a couple of people there already, alice being one of them, she came up to me and nodded. "Isabella." She said as her greeting. Maybe I should speak and tell her to call me bella, I thought to myself but decided not to, It would be too tiring. I didn't understand why she still talked to me when she clearly saw that I wouldn't speak to her. Most people would've already given up and walked away, although I wasn't sure if that was exactly what I wanted. Maybe I just wanted someone who wouldn't give up on me that easily.

My train of thoughts was interrupted when a mop of messy bronze hair came into my sight. He wore a striped grey and light grey shirt, on the top right corner in medium sized words it read "The Cage". I wondered if every shirt they'd gotten us said the same words. He had some black blue stretch jeans and shoes, a black sweater was hanging on his arms.

I didn't realize I was staring until I saw a pair of curious hazel eyes starring at me, alice, I thought to myself. She turned to face forward at aro, but not before shooting me a knowing smile. I mentally berated myself and turned around to face aro. A couple minutes later, the room was filled again and aro began speaking.

"Good morning, we hope all of you had a pleasant night and enjoyed yourselves. Now I will go into further details about the game." He said and a masked man came in with a table, on top of the table were many black bags. "As I said before this game will be played outside the mansion. Each of you will receive a bag from the table before you. Inside the bag is one item, and a collar with your name and a number engraved on it." He reached down and grabbed a black bag.

"For instance, say I was a participant and I got this bag." He opened it and took out a flash light. "This would be my one item given to me in order to survive outside." He shoved it back in the bag and took out a silver metal collar. "You are to put this collar around your neck, inside the collar we embedded a tracking device. What this will do is tell us whether you are alive or dead, also if, for any reason, any of you decide you want to leave this place and try jumping the fence, this collar will automatically tighten around your neck and suffocate you." He said the last part with a serious tone that sent shivers down my spine.

"You will also find a water bottle, a map, a compass and a watch within the bag. You will each be called by name and will be given your number. We ask that you come up and get your bag, you will be led outside the mansion through a fence and into the wild."

Aro spoke again, "You will have to survive for 2 weeks, those of you who make it 'til the end will be given a prize of 1,000 dollars. This prize will be divided evenly among all of the survivors. Meaning if all 40 of you survive, each of you will only get 25 dollars. Now lets say only 10 of you survive, that would mean each of you would get 100. If only one person manages to survive, then that one person will be the lucky winner of a thousand dollars, not to mention they'd have their liberty given back to them."

Everyone began to whisper to each other. Many said this was great, and thought maybe this game wasn't so bad after all, but I knew better. Humans are greedy creatures and surely there was more than one person who was aiming to win the whole prize all to themselves.

"You will all now be lead outside the mansion where the game will commence. This place was a huge town before, you may have heard of it, Forks Washington. It was a small town, not many people, so they gave it up and we turned it into this game's ground. What I'm trying to say is that there is sure to be buildings, houses, structures out there. You can use those to your advantage, hide if you must. Good luck , ladies and gentlemen because I believe you will truly need it." With that he got up and walked away. A masked man began calling names. He called Alice's name as number 2, Edward was number 8, and after a few numbers he called my name.

"Isabella Swan, number 15."

I got up and walked to the man, he handed me my bag and another man escorted me into the fence, the sky was a splash of blue, red and orange, it was dawn. The man reminded me that in this game, all was valid. The only rule was to survive. He closed the fence then he walked away and into the mansion to escort the next person.

As I walked further into the forest, I stopped dead on my tracks because before me was a corpse. It was a woman, probably in her late 30's. She had blonde hair, her face was contorted, her neck had a nasty purple bruise, and blood was running down her neck. Her eyes were rolled back and all you could see was the whiteness of it. I shuddered and swallowed the bile on my neck. This was _scary_ and real, very real. First victim down, I thought to myself as I shook my head. That makes 39 of us now.

I ran behind a tree and stood still, I closed my eyes and tried my hardest to hear for any sounds. After I was sure there was no one around, I began running no where in particular, just as far away from the mansion as possible.

After a few minutes of running, I came across something that looked like a car shop. The windows were broken, there were a few cars, all had the windows broken, one of them had dried blood running down the side door. I cringed, god do I hate the smell of blood. I carefully went inside the shop, making sure there was no one inside. I sat on the floor, close to the door in case I needed to run out. I opened my black bag and found a pocket knife was my weapon, I would've preferred a gun.

Suddenly, and much to my dismay, I heard the rustling of bushes. Shit, shit, shit, shit! I'm not ready for this, I thought to myself as I peeked through a crack on the door. There was a man with dirty blonde hair, he was the one approaching. He had a knife in his hand, a huge scar ran from his right cheek bone all the way down to the bottom of his chin. That did it, I knew he was bad news, he's probably aiming for the prize all to himself. I stood up behind the door, getting ready to pounce on him if I had to. That was a bad move, the floor creaked and his head shot in the direction of the door.

I closed my eyes and tried breathing evenly and quietly. I could hear the footsteps getting closer and closer, taunting me. The door creaked opened and he stepped in looking around the room, as soon as his back was turned to me, I pounced on him. I successfully latched myself on his back and placed the knife on his throat.

"Wait! Wait, you're a girl, right? I wouldn't hurt you! I'm not playing this game, listen to me!" He shouted out putting his hands up as if surrendering. I considered this, maybe he wasn't bad after all, maybe I misjudged.

As soon as he felt my grip loosen, he flipped me around and I landed with a thud on my back. My head hurt, it felt as if it was about to explode, apparently I'd hit it hard on the floor. The man hovered over my face with a sickly smile, he took the knife from my hand and tossed it to the side, out of my reach. He placed a hand on my cheek as he said, "Well well well, we do have a girl after all." He licked his lips and walked above me, he sat himself on top of me. I tackled him, trying to inflict any damage i could with my hands but he got both of my hands with one of his strong ones and held them above my head.

"Bad, kitty." He purred at me, "No scratching." He lowered his head down to my neck and began to lick it. I started wriggling, trying to unsuccessfully get out of his death grip. I could feel the tears starting to pile up in my eyes. I shook and writhed beneath him with more ferocity, that only pissed him off. He slapped me across the face with his free hand, "Stop moving! It's fucking annoying!" he yelled at me with menacing eyes.

"I'm going to have to knock you out, kitty because you don't quit moving, maybe you'll learn after this." He got my pocket knife, closed it and with the non sharp part he hit me in the head. I shook, trying to stay put but slowly darkness began consuming me until I hit sweet unconsciousness.

I don't know how long I was unconscious but I woke up with a huge headache. Something was around my hands, and it was hurting. I opened my eyes and had to blink a couple of times to adjust to the brightness. My body shot up but was brought back down with immense force. I realized my hands had been tied up with rope. There was a face hovering in front of me, the man was crouched down before me, giving me a wicked smile while roaming my body. I felt disgusting and self conscious.

"Looks like you finally came to your senses." He patted my cheek, "Good kitty, we're going to have fun now." I instinctively thrashed around trying to untie the rope around my wrists, I kicked and kicked until I hit him. He sat on top of me, stopping my legs from thrashing around. He let out a exasperated sigh, "bella, bella, bella." My eyes widened in horror, how did he know my name? "Don't look at me like that, silly. Your name's on your name tag inside your bag. Don't think I didn't look inside of it while you were knocked out."

"Oh but how rude of me, I know your name but you don't know mine," he bickered, "I am James. Pleasure to meet you, lovely." I gave him the most angry look I could muster, to let him know I had no pleasure at all meeting him. He just chuckled.

I spit on his face and his chuckle turned into a scary grunt. He cursed and threw himself at me, his hands found their way to my throat and he began trying to choke me.

_No, no no no no no! Not again!  
_

Disturbing images ran their way into my brain, crimson filled my vision and all I could see was the redness pooling over me. Flashes of my nightmares crept their way into my brain, and I began thrashing with newfound energy. A loud piercing scream escaped my lips and I could feel the flesh tearing around my wrists as the rope began ripping through my skin, fresh gushes of blood began streaming down my wrists.

Images of my mother as she choked me burst into my vision and I couldn't handle it. I was kicking and scratching to get him off of me, to stop the memories. I could feel the tears streaming down my cheeks, my heart was beating so loud I was afraid it would burst from my heart. Just then he flew off of me, I wasn't sure why and at the time I didn't care, I just wanted the memories to fade, the pain to fade and my heart to stop clenching so painfully tight. I went into fetal position and buried my face in between my legs, my arms clutching around my legs.

"I'm sorry, are you okay?" a velvety voice, full of concern asked. I didn't look up, I just closed my eyes and tried to concentrate on breathing evenly. "Did he hurt you? I'm sorry I couldn't get here any faster, I'm sorry." He apologized, and I looked up from beneath my eyelashes. I was surprised to see edward was the one who came to my rescue.

I slightly moved, and a jolt of pain shot through my wrist making me wince. He immediately cut the rope with a knife and gently grabbed my wrist to examine them. He said a string of profanities before taking off his shirt, my eyes widened and I tried scooting back some more. He looked at me and frowned, "I'm not trying to hurt you," after he saw that I wasn't buying it, he pleaded "bella.." his voice sounded full of pain, and I couldn't understand why but somehow with just that, he convinced me. "bella, I'm going to use my shirt to rip you some bandages."

I saw as he ripped three shreds from his shirt. He put it aside and took out his water bottle from the bag, he poured some water on a cloth, "bella will you put your wrists out for me? This isn't alcohol but it will have to do." I did as he told and he began wiping my wrists, I winced every now and then but his touch was gentle. After he cleaned it, he wrapped the other two shreds around my wrists, tightly.

"Is it too tight?" he asked, I shook my head no, and that made my head dizzy. I wanted to say thank, but I was too tired, my eye lids were droopy and before I knew it I felt myself falling and darkness taking over me. I caught a glimpse of Edward catching me before I hit the floor, but I couldn't feel it because soon the darkness enveloped me in sweet, oblivious unconsciousness.

**A/N: So there you have it, edward and bella interaction ;D**

**Please review and tell me what you thought of it, I'll reply to your reviews.  
**


	4. Sweet Sacrifice

**A/N: Chapter three! This chapter is action packed. You meet a new character and you get some good action. **

**Disclaimer: Twilight belongs to Stephanie Meyer. No, I am not Stephanie Meyer….. Yet. Haha just kidding xD**

"Like a breeze to the flame,  
My everything has been blown out."  
-Unknown

**Chapter 3: Sweet Sacrifice**

So red, I hate that color. Why is everything so red? And cold, its all so cold, its always cold. I could feel shivers running up my spine. The image of my mom smiling up at me while laying down on the cold, red ground flashed through my head. Her words lingered in my ear drums, _You'll love it, the three of us will all be together again, and we'll laugh, yes we'll laugh._ I could feel pressure over my neck, something was choking me.

_No, no, please god, no more._

My eyes shot wide open and it took me a while to realize what was going on. Edward was before me, his hands wrapped around my wrists. My hands wrapped around my neck, I was unconsciously choking myself. I slowly let go. I looked at Edward, he was looking at me, well staring at me. Our eyes locked and we held each others gaze, it was the first time I was able to look him in the eye. His eyes were two pools of emerald, full of concern, confusion, and some other emotion I couldn't put my finger on.

"How could…?" he trailed off, "But I can't… why? You don't " he looked at his hands "it doesn't bother me.. Why?" I looked at him, confusion written all over my face. Maybe he's crazy, I thought to myself. I mean, he is coming from prison, he could be crazy. Yeah, he must be crazy, but who isn't?

"I'm sorry, its nothing. Forget that. I'm glad you're fine." He looked away, that's when I remembered James. Holy shit, James! I shot up and looked around. We were no longer in the auto shop, we were in the forest, I was laying on the grass, a tree was giving us shade.

I wanted to ask him what happened to James, I really did, but I was tired, too tired to speak. Fuck, why am I always too tired to speak? I looked down at my wrist that were still bandaged with his shirt cloth. I looked at him and realized he was wearing a black sweater now. Figures, he probably ripped his whole shirt just to bandage me.

He turned around to look at me, "Can you move? We really need to move, we can't stay in one place, they'll find us." I nodded and he picked up our bags, it was funny because I trusted him. I really can't tell you why, because I don't know, but I trusted this man. I trust that he won't kill me, I trust that he'll try to protect me, I trust that we could make this out alive. He didn't promise me any of this, hell, we barely spoke, well he spoke, I haven't said a word. Somehow, I trust him and I'm not sure if that's good or bad, it's probably bad, yeah it has to be bad. Nothing good comes out of trust, mainly when you didn't really even know the person you're trusting.

I stood up and wavered a little, I was a bit dizzy but I was fine. We walked and walked until we heard some footsteps. Edward turned to me and put his finger over his lips, telling me to be quiet. I stood still, he leaned over to me and whispered, "I'm going to see who it is, I want you to stay here with the bags, there's a taser inside my bag, and two knives inside yours. If I don't come back soon, run away immediately."He grabbed his gun and before jumping into the bushes he gave me one last glance. I wanted to protest, to tell him not to go but I didn't. Instead I watched his back as he jumped out of the bushes and into the sight of the enemy.

He pointed the gun forward and a shadow was lurking towards him. The shadow had short spiky hair, dé·jà-fucking-vu, I thought to myself. A girl with jet black spiky hair popped out, she was pointing a gun at Edward, her eyebrows were scrunched up. Her face lit up as she saw that it was just Edward, she sighed in relief when he lowered his gun.

"Ah, I thought that was the end of it for me, I just heard the footsteps and thought it wouldn't be you, I mean the chances of running into an ally are really slim." She looked at him and then raised an eyebrow, "Where's your bag? Why do you only have a gun?"

"My bag's back there," he said pointing to the bushes where I was peeking through. "You're not playing this game, right?" he asked, gun still in his hand, finger still on the trigger but pointing the gun towards the ground.

"No! no! no, of course I'm not playing this stupid game, I know what they want. They want us to kill each other, they make it sound so perfect. They know people will go around killing for the money, they know it." She said, shaking her head furiously.

I decided Alice was safe and I jumped out of the bushes, she slightly jumped in surprise and raised up her gun, pointing it at me. My eyes widened and I lifted my hands up in surrender. Edward ran in front of me and covered me, "She's with me! I had her hiding behind the bushes with the bags." Alice lowered her gun and sighed again.

"Isabella, you have to warn me before you jump out like that! I could've shot you on pure instinct." She rubbed her eyes with her hand. "So how'd you guys pair up without me?" She joked, I looked away not wanting to touch that subject. She must've realized because she changed the topic.

"So where are we headed to?" She asked, looking at her compass.

"South, we're going south. Just going to try to get by for the next two weeks." Edward answered, he took the bags from my arms, "Lets get going, we've made enough noise, we might draw attention." Alice nodded and we began walking south.

**x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x**

We'd walked for an hour and a half and I was growing tired. I tried my best to hide it from them but I guess my best wasn't enough because soon Alice spoke up, "Edward, Isabella looks tired. Maybe we should rest for a little bit, I mean we've been walking for almost two hours. I say we go inside the next building we find." Edward looked at the both of us and nodded.

We walked for another 10 minutes before we reached something that looked like a hospital. We walked cautiously inside, with Edward ahead of us. We heard a loud groan and we immediately froze. My heart began to exhilarate and fear was clouding my mind. What if it was James? What if it was someone worst? Like a sadistic killer who'd have fun by sickly torturing us before killing us. I was broken out of my disturbing thoughts by Edward who took the safety off his gun and pointed it forward, Alice walked up to him and lowered his gun. She shook her head and pleaded him with her eyes.

She walked inside a room and lifted her hands up in surrender. Edward and I exchanged a confused look. "We're not going to hurt you, we just want to rest. We're not playing this game and I'm sure you're not either." Alice said, she looked trusting and I wondered if she knew the person inside.

I walked up next to her and saw a man half sitting, half laying on the floor, his head resting against the wall. His honey blonde hair was stuck to his forehead, he was sweating. His muscular but lean body was covered in blood, there was some blood running down his mouth as well. He was holding a machine gun in his right hand while his left hand clutched tightly around his torso, when his eyes landed upon Alice they softened and he lowered the gun.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare… you, just.. self-ddefense." he stuttered, and I realized he was injured, there was blood oozing down his fingers, I gasped and covered my mouth, shutting my eyes tight.

_Not the crimson, don't look at the crimson, its just his blood, it won't suffocate you, this is reality not the nightmare._

I bet Alice just barely realized too because she ran over to him and kneeled in front of him. "OMG!" she wailed, gaining my attention, she turned to look at Edward, "Edward you have to do something, he'll die of blood loss." Edward stared at her, I suppose mentally debating whether he should help the stranger or not. After a moment he reached into his bag and pulled out the leftover cloth from his shirt.

He opened cabinet after cabinet searching for something. Meanwhile Alice was reassuring the guy, she was caressing his face with her hand, I stared incredulously. Why was she acting like she knew him all along? Did she? How could she trust someone so easily? I dropped the subject because I remembered that I trusted Edward just as easily.

Edward walked over to them with a bottle in his hands, he opened it and poured some into a piece of cloth. "I already cleaned the w-wound," the man stuttered.

"Then I'll clean it again, just to make sure." he kneeled on the opposite direction of Alice, beside the guy. He began cleaning his wound, it looked like a stab, not too deep but a stab nonetheless. The guy's eyebrows would scrunch together every time the pain became unbearable. Alice had his hand on hers, she was rubbing soothing circles on his hand. The moment was intimate so I looked away and focused on the place we were in.

It was definitely a clinic, there was cabinets full with bottles and some med beds. The clinic was pretty small, probably only two rooms, this being one of them. By the time I brought my attention back to them, Edward had already bandaged the man's wound with the remains of his shirt.

"So, Edward, were you a doctor or something?" asked Alice, pointing at how he effectively stopped the bleeding.

"Not really, I spend quiet some time in the clinic of the prison I was in. I was good friends with the doctor there, his name was Carlisle. I would help him every now and then when injured prisoners would come in." he shrugged as if it were no big deal. I admired him, he was stuck in prison and he was helping others. While I, I just holed myself up in my cell, I refused to speak or see anyone. My cell mate, Angela, tried speaking to me a couple of times, I never spoke back and after a while she quit trying.

"Wow, so you're a good guy, I mean not that I didn't trust you to be, that was just kind of unexpected." Alice explained herself to Edward before turning back to the injured man, "I'm Alice, this is Edward and she's Isabella," she said pointing my way, I just dropped my gaze to the floor. "so what's your name? I don't believe I've heard it yet."

"Jasper, Jasper Whitlock." He flashed her a smiled and Alice cheeks flushed a very faint light-scarlet color. "Nice to meet you Alice, lovely name." This made Alice smile and blush even more, I snickered under my breath, this caught Edward attention and he turned to look at me. I slightly blushed and looked down, _okay, karma's a bitch, point made_, I thought to myself.

"So obviously more than one person is playing this game. The person who attacked Isabella, and the person who attacked Jasper." Edward said, Alice flashed a concerned look down my way, I gave her a reassuring smile and she nodded.

"We have to be careful, it's probably not that safe to stay inside this building for too often." he looked outside, the sun had already went down, it was much darker. "We should stay here for tonight and tomorrow morning we'll begin walking again."

"You will come with us, right Jasper?" Alice asked, I could tell she wanted him to come. Something about Alice was so… knowing? Yeah, her voice was knowing she asked things as if she already knew the answer to them but wanted them confirmed.

"Of course," I had the feeling that jasper wouldn't deny anything to Alice. An unknown and unpleasant emotion shot through, what is this.. jealousy? No way, what would I be jealous of?

"Then it's settled, you guys should sleep, I'll keep watch." Edward turned to look at me, "You should get some rest, we have a long day of walking ahead of us tomorrow." I nodded, I felt like if I was a nuisance. Edward brought down the med beds and placed three of them side by side. "You can sleep on this, it should be more comfortable than the floor."

We all nodded and laid down on the beds, Edward helped Jasper on his bed. I curled myself into a ball and turned sideways so my back was facing them. I sighed, I was afraid of this game, I knew there would be a lot of blood spilled soon. That knowledge scared the shit out of me. If there's something I can't stand its blood. I hate everything about it, the color, the smell, the feel of it, but most of all the memories it brought to me. I shook my head and after a little while I started slipping into slumber.

I was awoken by the sound of gun shots, I flung myself into sitting position, I looked around and Alice just woke up as well, Jasper was trying to get up but Alice and his wound were interfering. "No, you stay here. You're already injured, I'll see what's going on." She was about to get up but Jasper was holding onto her hand, she turned to look at him.

"No, stay here don't go out there. They're merciless, you'll get hurt." Alice looked like she wanted to protest but all it took was one look from him and she caved in.

Something inside my stomach churned, I realized Edward wasn't inside the room with us. Alice didn't go check, because jasper stopped her but nothing's stopping me. With that, I got up and peeked out the window. I couldn't see anyone outside, but I could hear the gunshots on the opposite direction.

I was about to get up and go outside but I wanted to take a weapon with me, I looked for the gun but it was gone, Edward must've taken it. I very well couldn't use the machine gun so instead I grabbed the taser and took the bags over to Alice and jasper, I handed them the machine gun and knife. Alice, looked at me curiously and gave me a 'oh, no your not' look, I shook my head and ran straight across the room and outside of it before she could stop me, I could hear her yelling my name and telling me to get back inside.

I walked down the hall, to say I wasn't scared would be a huge lie, I was petrified not only for myself but also for Edward. I convinced myself I was only worried about Edward because if he didn't come back to us we'd be in more trouble, but a little voice told me that wasn't the only reason, i shook my head and ignored that little voice.

As I started getting closer to the outside door, I could hear grunting. I ran outside and saw a man was wresting with Edward, the man was holding a knife and had it pointing towards Edward neck, Edward was pushing his hand away so he wouldn't stab him. The man had black hair and was fairly muscular, he looked stronger than Edward but I wasn't sure.

_Oh god, he'll stab him in the neck, that's bad I can't let that happen, but what can I do?_

I looked around, the gun was laying on the ground, apparently neither Edward nor the man had noticed me yet. I tucked the taser in my waist band, I walked slowly and carefully towards the gun, my sudden movement caught the strangers attention and he whipped around to look at me. Edward used this moment to slap the man's hand, making him drop the knife. The man ran to the gun and took it before I could, he pulled me by the arm and placed the gun in my temple.

"Don't move or I'll spill her guts." He warned, my eyes widened and Edwards face changed from shock to rage. The stranger chuckled, "Yeah, that's more like it." I could feel his nasty breath blowing against the back of my neck and ear, it made me shiver. "You know, I haven't been this close to a woman for six fucking years, and I'm really missing it." He cooed in my ear, I closed my eyes in disgust but I shot them open when I heard a loud growl emitting from Edward's chest.

"Let. Her. Fucking. Go." he spoke in syllables. His voice was full of menace and authority, it was enough to even scare me. His fists were clenched so tight that his knuckles were white. I tried not to cry, I honestly did but I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes, I hated crying in front of people, I didn't want Edward to think I was this weak. I wasn't whimpering or anything, no I wouldn't give this man the satisfaction of hearing me scream. I wasn't sobbing either but my eyes betrayed me and a single tear slid down my cheek and hit the mans hand that was wrapped tightly around my waist.

He looked at me and chuckled, "she's crying! Haha I made her cry, don't cry, I promise to be gentle." he laughed again and I felt humiliated, disgusted and a mixture of other emotions. He lowered his mouth to my cheek and licked where the trail of my tear was. I closed my eyes, completely and utterly appalled. Why the hell do i always get into these situations? Why am i so friggin useless? When I opened my eyes I could see Edward glaring at the man, his jaw was clenched so tight I thought his teeth wouldn't be able to withstand the pressure.

It all went to fast, Edward crouched down while the man was distracted licking my cheek and he grabbed the knife he had earlier slapped out of the man's hand. He ran up to us and was ready to stab him when the man cocked the gun and Edward stopped.

I closed my eyes again, is this it? I knew I wouldn't last that long in this game, I'm really not that strong but I wished it could've ended better. It hurt to think I wouldn't be able to see Edward again, to get to know him, to talk to him, to actually fucking talk to him, I'm so stupid! I should've talked while I had the chance. I looked up at the sky and two heads starring out the window of the clinic caught my attention.

Jasper and Alice were starring down with horror stricken faces. And in that second it hit me, I had the taser! I had the fucking taser, I just had to pull it out of my waist band. Damn, how would I do that without him noticing my intention? I felt a bulge poking me in the back and I shuddered in disgust, his erection was poking me in the back, wait, I could use this. I could try to seduce him and tase the shit out of him when he least expected it.

I took a deep breath and slid my hands to his waist, I closed my eyes and tried not to give myself away. I snaked my hand lower and lower until it hit his belt buckle. His breath hitched and he let out a low moan,_ Fuck, this is so gross._ I thought to myself, _focus, bella focus. It will be worth it if it all goes according to plan, focus!_ I encouraged myself.

"mmm, I like where this is going." purred the man in my ear, I creased my eyebrows and suppressed the need to gag. His grip loosened around my waist and he turned me around so my chest would be pressed against his body, I tried composing my face. This is good, it'll make it easier for me to grab the taser this way. Edward growled behind me, and I tried my best to ignore it.

I snaked my hands from his chest down to his stomach and lower. He tried snaking his free hand to my chest but I shook my head and gave him a forced wink. I lowered my hand to his belt buckle, my taser was just a few inches away, seeing as how he pressed me against him. Instead of reaching down his belt, I reached into my waist band and took out the taser, with much force I pushed him away from me and just before he pointed the gun at me, I shoved the taser into his stomach and pulled the trigger to tase him.

"You bitch!" he yelled at me, as he shook from the bolts of electricity I'd just given him. "You.. Tricked." He said and winced as he bit his tongue. He fell to the ground and his eyes rolled behind his head. I stood still for a second before I felt my knees buckle and give in. I felt a pair of strong hands scoop me up before I hit the ground. I buried my face into the crook of Edward's neck and sobbed uncontrollably, I was shaking with fear.

"shhh, shhh.. It's okay, it's over. You were brave and smart. It's okay now." he comforted me and it actually worked, my mind focused on his sweet breath, and the way his neck vibrated as he talked and his voice, so velvety and smooth. He turned us around, I was still in his arms and my head was resting on his shoulder as the tears were falling, but I was no longer sobbing.

Through tears I saw a blurry figure stand up, my eyes widened in horror. I kicked and thrashed off of Edward's strong arms, I could see the intense hurt in his face immediately being replaced by shock. I ran in front of him as the man pointed the gun in Edward's direction, I got in the way just as the bullet was shot and I felt a huge pang of pain on my right thigh. A strangled scream escaped my mouth and I accidentally bit my bottom lip, drawing out blood, in an attempt to muffle the scream.

I fell to the floor with a thud, I hit my head pretty hard on something. I saw as Edward threw the knife he was holding straight at the man, it punctured him right on his neck. The man fell on his back, his eyes wide open and glazed over.

My own eyes widened and I swear I could see my mom's glazed eyes. I could hear her laugh's and promises.

_Bella, we're going far away sweetie, you'll love it. It'll be just like the old times…_

_We'll laugh, laugh, laugh, laugh, laugh.._

I brought my hands up to my ears in an attempt to shut her up, it proved to be futile. I screamed and sobbed, and the crimson began clouding my sight.

"No, no, no! Don't let her take me! She'll choke me, I know it! Stop her laugh! Stop laughing! Stop…" I narrowed my eyes and I could see Edward rush to me as I began screaming hysterically, his face was contorted in a sickly mixture of pain, shock and sympathy. "Edward.. I can see the red, don't…" I couldn't finish my sentence because the crimson took over my eyesight, but I was glad the last thing I could see was Edward, although his expression was full of pain. Soon the crimson turned to darkness, and I was swallowed by unconsciousness.

**Review! As much as I'm flattered with all the story/author alerts and the couple favorites, I'd like some reviews as well. Tell me what I'm doing wrong, if anything. I'll reply to every single review, no matter how small. Thanks.  
**


	5. Unspoken Words

**A/N: Thanks to chocomel26 for bringing this up, she asked if they would've been eligible for parole considering they were minors at the time they committed the crime, moreover for bella since she did it in self defense, my answer is:**

**yes, they should've gotten parole, but that would've messed up my story, so since its fan fiction I decided to rule that out. The same goes for any other murder which was committed while underage. I should've probably explained that earlier, I apologize. I understand if that makes you hate the story now but I had to do that, I hope you find it in you to understand.**

**And the thing with bella is that she did do it on self defense but after the incident she did not speak a single word. She didn't say she did it on self defense and they did see the marks around her neck but they thought the mother did it on self defense, and there were no witnesses. So they assumed it was a murder and bella just didn't want to plead as guilty of the crime.**

**Bella was 15 when she killed her mother, Edward was 13. Yes, Edward stayed in prison for longer, being the masochist that he is, he was feeling guilty and decided to punish himself by staying in prison longer than what was sentenced for him. Bella and Edward are now both 18. Alice and Jasper are 20. Emmett and Rosalie will be 21, they will be appearing in future chapters.**

***** sorry for the delay, fanfiction wasn't letting me upload the chapter :/****  
anyways, enjoy~  
and check out the preview for a new story i will be working on! thanks**

"A dying man needs to die, as a sleepy man needs to sleep,

and there comes a time when it is wrong, as well as useless to resist."

-Stewart Alsop

**Chapter 4: Unspoken Words**

**Tuesday, February 19**

The first thing I was aware of when I came to was the horrible headache I felt, my head felt like exploding, and it was painfully throbbing. _Ugh, what the hell happened? _I thought to myself as I slowly opened my eyes. I blinked a couple of times.

I looked around, it was dark and silent, eerily silent. I could see the figure of a man sitting in front of me. I tried picking myself up but a shooting pain spread over my right leg, _oh, I remember now._

I looked at the figure in silence, the moon was shinning in the opposite direction so the light was casting shadows over his face but I distinctively knew exactly who it was when I saw the disheveled mop of bronze hair.

His body heaved with every breath, he was sleeping while sitting down. His head hung low, making his bangs cover up his eyes, he had a gun in his hands, the safety was on though.

A slight smile played its way to my face, god he looked so gorgeous even asleep. I don't know how long I stared but soon his eyes fluttered open and the moonlight coming in from the broken window danced around his eyes. His green orbs molded into my brown ones, as if absorbing me. We held each others gaze for a couple of seconds, which felt more like hours to me, until he broke the silence.

"How are you feeling?" he asked, his velvety voice dripping with sleep. I blinked a couple of times, I was still dazzled by our long stare. I wondered how I should answer that, I wanted to speak, to thank him, tell him I was grateful and I didn't regret taking the bullet. Instead I looked down and unconsciously bit my bottom lip, hard, until I could taste the blood.

_What's wrong with me?,_ I thought to myself. God, this is so frustrating, I wanted to speak but every time I thought the words I wanted to say, when I tried saying them they wouldn't come out. I couldn't find my voice. I'd forgotten how to talk. Was this normal? Would I ever be able to talk again?

He must've read the distress in my face because soon I felt a finger lift my chin, I looked up at him. His face was expressionless and he just looked at me before speaking, "It's okay If you can't talk. I understand, just answer by nodding. Okay?" I nodded. "Can you move your leg?" I looked down at my leg, I realized I was now wearing shorts. Where did they get shorts from? I remembered seeing them sprawled on top of the medicine counter, I briefly wondered who changed me. I tried moving my leg, although it hurt I could still move it, so I nodded. "Good, does your head hurt? You hit it pretty hard, do you feel dizzy?" I thought about it and my head does kind of hurt but not too much so I decide its nothing to worry about, I shake my head no. His face relaxes and he leans back on the wall, starring out the window and looking thoughtful.

I look down at my shorts and I suddenly feel conscious of myself so I pull my sweater on top of my legs, this catches edwards attention. He looks at me and then says "If you're worried, I wasn't the one to change you, Alice did. Just so It was easier for me to remove the bullet." He took in my expression and then spoke again, "I don't know what you were thinking when you jumped in front of me to take that bullet but…" he trailed off and it looked like he was having a hard time choosing the words to say, "Thank you." He simply said and turned his head away to look at anything but me.

I nodded even though I knew he couldn't see it. I turned to look around and Alice was sleeping on the med bed beside me, her hand was clutching the bed sheets and she was sweating, I wondered if she was having a nightmare. I realized, I didn't know why she was in prison, or why any of them were for that matter. I decided I would ask whenever I could speak, if I could speak again.

Jasper moved a little, he was clenching and unclenching his jaw, a drip of blood flooded down his lips. He licked them and visibly relaxed. I turned around just as Edward spoke, "You should go back to sleep." I looked down and nodded, almost as soon as I laid down, I went back to sleep.

That night, for the first time in a while, I slept without the nightmares. A dreamless sleep full of sweet oblivion. I don't know why I didn't dream but I was profoundly thankful.

**Wednesday, February 20**

I woke up to the sound of birds chirping. I opened my eyes dazedly and took in my surroundings. Alice was sitting against the wall talking away with Jasper. She turned to look at me and smiled, "How are you feeling?" I nodded to let her know I was fine. She, too, nodded. "I'm glad, you had us worried there when you began seducing the nasty fucker," I winced a little at the reminder and at the word she had chosen, I now knew not to piss her off, something told me it wouldn't be pretty. "I'm glad you're tactful, that comes in handy." I found it strange that no one had mentioned about the hysterics I'd given yesterday, I was thankful for that.

I didn't see Edward anywhere in the room, Alice must've realized I was looking for him because she shot me a knowing smile to which I rolled my eyes at. "He's getting food, well anything he could find, which won't be much, probably." I nodded, I really wanted to take a shower. I felt sticky and just really nasty.

I got up slowly, wincing a little as my leg protested, I was sure there would be a bathroom here somewhere. I wondered out into the hall, I came inside another room. It was dark, this room had a curtain in front of the window. To the right was the window, to the left was what I was looking for, the sink, although I doubt it had any water, it was worth a shot.

I opened the sink and mud poured out, gross, I closed it and turned around, there was a chair next to a rusty machine. There were tools hanging from the wall. I turned to exit the room and search the rest. Directly in front was a room that looked like an office. There was a dirty wood table, the wood looked like it was rotting. On top of the table were papers spread messily, there were a couple of them on the floor as well. There was a broken weighing scale positioned on the wall, along with one to measure your height.

As I walked over to the floor, I heard a crunch of glass before I felt it. I cursed as I felt the pain on my foot. I was as clumsy as ever, I took out the jagged glass and threw it over. There, on the floor was a broken frame and a photo with the picture facing down. I picked it up and saw that it must've been a family photo, there was a man, and a woman, both were kneeling and between them was a little boy. What surprised me was that all of them had their eyes crossed out with a marker.

"What are you doing?" Asked a very controlled velvety voice. I whipped my head around, surprised. His face was emotionless and his eyes were piercing right through me. His jaw was tight and his fists were balled, he looked mad, at what, I had no idea. He looked at my foot and his face softened, he sighed. "Who walks around without shoes? Mostly when there's broken glass in a room." I looked down, he was right. "Come on, I brought some fruit, you have to eat because we're leaving soon."

I gave one last nostalgic look at the picture before putting it back down, the same way I had found it. I got up and walked to him, wincing a little when I stepped on the cut on my foot. He stepped away and walked outside the room, we both walked side by side into the room where Alice and Jasper were eating a banana.

I sat down on the floor and reached over for a banana, I peeled it and began eating. After we each ate two bananas Edward told us to pack up because we're going on the move again. I grabbed my jeans, disappointed that I couldn't take a shower. I walked towards the door, "Where are you going?" asked Alice, I lifted up my jeans and she nodded understanding that I was going to change in the other room.

I walked back into the room with the curtain that was in the room next door draped over my arm, fully changed, I put on my shoes and grabbed my bag, shoving the curtain inside. I was preparing in case we needed it for any reason. I tucked the taser back into my waistband and turned to look at them.

Alice was helping Jasper get up, apparently someone had changed his bandages because they were no longer bloody. Alice grabbed her bag while handing Jasper his. Edward had his bag over his shoulder already with the machine gun in his hand, Jasper had the other gun in his. We walked out and I looked to the spot where I remember the man had died yesterday, his body was no longer there.

"Edward moved it." Alice answered my question.

We walked for a couple of hours, until we were pretty far away from the clinic. We all slumped down beside a big tree, after break was called. Jasper dug into his bag and took out a knife and some string, we all eyed him curiously. "I got this string at the clinic." He said and began unraveling it, he cut a thick piece of wood from the tree branch, he twisted the string around it and around the trees, he went further and further into the forest, tying it around the trees until the string ran out.

He walked back to us, Alice raised an eyebrow at him. "This is what you call your basic alarm system." He said pointing at the puzzle of string all around us. "I've strung out a twenty meter perimeter, someone trips on a string and the wood falls down. This lets us know when someone's lurking around." he nodded " No more element of surprise." he placed the wood on top of a semi flat tree branch. I was surprised he thought of this, he was smart. "Make sure you don't trip on it or it'll all fail." he warned us with a smirk.

"Wow." Alice said, "Have you done this before or something?"

"My father was in the military, you learn stuff like that." he looked down sadly.

"I'm sorry," Alice said, sympathy written all over her face.

"It's okay, I'm just glad this stuff actually came in handy." he chuckled, lightning up the mood. "My father used to tell me every crazy encounter he had in the military, I used to love hearing his stories. They all had some sort of moral to them."

We spent a while listening to Jasper's crazy stories about his father's experience. He managed to make us forget that we were in a sick game, he just had that sort of power. He could change our moods like that.

_CLANK!_

We turned our eyes in horror, the piece of wood had fallen, someone had tripped on a string, someone was coming towards us.

**A/N: Sorry for the cliffy, I just love ending in them. Makes the story so much better :P**

**I don't know if you got it but yes, Edward was the one who crossed out the eyes of the family photo, he isn't over his trauma yet. We will be seeing more of traumatized Edward, soon ;]**

**Please leave a review, I appreciate those of you who catch my errors, lets me know you're actually reading it good. Thanks!**

**-Yours Truly,**

**~ZM.**


	6. Heartbeats

**A/N: Hey guys! I want to thank you for sticking to this story so far. I'm terribly sorry for the late update! I don't have much inspiration to write, if you have any good ideas for this story feel free to PM them to me, ill give you credit for it.  
**

**Chapter 5: Heartbeats  
**

**Last Chapter:**  
_  
CLANK!_

_We turned our eyes in horror, the piece of wood had fallen, someone had tripped on a string, someone was coming towards us._

I froze, I didn't know what to do. Edward, Alice, and Jasper were all grabbing the bags and getting ready to run for it. I gulped loudly, as a series of chills—that had nothing to do with the cold—ran down my body. _This stupid game, why did I have to agree? Why didn't I just go over the red line, damn it._

I felt someone pull at my arm, I turned and saw Edward looking at me with serious eyes, "Isabella, we have to go, someone is coming." I shook my head, trying to think more clearly. I nodded and was beginning to move when I heard it.

It was a low moan, from a woman. The sound was coming behind us, I turned around, "Wait," called a man's voice from behind us, "Can you help me?" Alice, Jasper, and Edward traded glances. The man in front of us was pretty big and muscular, he had dark brown curly hair. He held a bat in his right hand and a woman was sprawled over his left shoulder. "I'm not playing this game, man. I just need you to help her out," he said pointing with his bat at the woman over his shoulder."

Edward spoke up, "What ensures us that you won't attack us while we help your friend?"

The man looked pensive, "Nothing ensures you that I won't attack but I'm not smart, so I wouldn't of thought of something like an ambush." he looked at the girl over his shoulder. "I don't know what injuries she has but three men were trying to rape her, when I heard her screaming I beat the crap out of them." he looked at us now, "I know you probably don't care, and I don't know if any of you are playing but by the looks of it, I would say you aren't. I mean, you wouldn't travel in packs if that were the case." he shrugged.

"I thought you weren't smart." joked Alice. "I believe you," she turned to look at us. "I mean look at him, he looks like a huge teddy bear with curls and all, he just doesn't seem like the kind of man to attack us." she looked over at him and the girl still unconscious over his shoulder. "He wouldn't have saved her if that were the case, he would've let them kill her, less opponents for him if he were playing. Maybe he'd even join us if we gave him the chance."

Jasper and Edward looked like they were torn between making the decision to help or not. Edward turned to look at me, I smiled at him and nodded. He looked at the grizzly bear in front of us and nodded. "We're only doing this for the girl." he stated, grizzly bear simply nodded and gave us a dimpled smile. He really did look like a huge teddy bear.

He gently put the girl down on the grass, using a bag as a pillow. She had wavy blonde hair, her legs seemed to run for miles even in jeans. Even with all the cuts and bruises adorning her face, she is definitely one of the most beautiful girl's I had ever seen. Model's had nothing on her, why she was here, was a mystery to me. She took a good hit at my already low self esteem, she made me feel self conscious. I already knew I was plain and boring, but her beauty just rubbed it in my face all the more.

I saw as Edward checked her pulse with delicacy, I don't know why but I was irrationally jealous. Not that Edward and I had anything going on, but seeing how he attentively treated her made me feel nasty. I looked away at the man instead. I stared at him, he must've felt it because he turned my way and looked back at me. He shot me a playful smile and I looked down.

"So what's your name?" asked a curious Alice.

"Emmett." he answered.

"I'm Alice, the one treating your girlfriend is Edward and he is Jasper. The silent one is Isabella." she said.

We heard a low moan coming from the injured blonde. We turned to look and her violet eyes fluttered open, she stared ahead for a moment before adjusting to the scene. Her eyes abruptly widened in horror and she screamed. Emmett placed his hand over her mouth and looked around franticly, he winced and looked down at the blonde before shouting, "OUCH! You bit me!"

She got up and scooted as far away from all of us as possible. Alice's eyes widened, she looked at her and then back at us before speaking. "You were in the same jail as I was." She stated, the blonde shot her a confused look. "Yeah, yeah. I heard about you, you had a cell all to yourself because you'd go off on anyone else around you. Weren't you…" she trailed off and looked down sadly before speaking again, "a victim of rape?"

The blonde shot her a pointed glare that later softened a tiny bit when she saw the saddened look on Alice's face. "Yeah." she simply answered.

"We won't hurt you, he found you." Alice said pointing at Emmett, "He carried you all the way over here, he looked worried. You should probably thank him, otherwise you'd be raped and dead by now."

The blonde looked pissed off, her busted lip twitched a little. "Thanks." She mumbled lowly, just loud enough so that we could barely hear it. "Don't expect anything else, I didn't ask you to save me, I could've very well saved myself." She said arrogantly.

"I don't expect anything else, woman." said a nonchalant Emmett. "Your screams were annoying, that's why I saved you, you sure as hell didn't look like you could save yourself." he shot her a dimpled smile to which she scowled at.

"Bastard." she spat.

"Bitch." he retorted.

Her lip twitched a little, she looked like she was trying not to smile.

"So what's your name?" Asked Alice, I realized she is always the one who asks for the names. After a moment of silence she said, "Okay, I'm Alice, he's Jasper, that's Edward, your savior is called Emmett, and silence over there is Isabella." I furrowed my eyebrow at her little nickname for me, 'silence'?

"Rosalie." She said, her name fit her perfectly.

"Okay, well since our alarm system was destroyed, its time to go on the move again." Jasper said looking around the tangled mess of string.

"What are you guys going to do?" asked a knowing Alice. "You could travel with us if you want. We're not playing this game, we're just aiming to survive the weeks to come."

"If you insist then I'll be tagging along." said Emmett, he looked at Rosalie.

"I can go by myself, I don't need you guys." said a flustered Rosalie.

"Oh, Rosalie! You have to come with us! I know you want to." whined Alice, she walked over to Rosalie and held her hands. Rosalie looked down at her hands and furrowed her brows.

"If you promise not to touch me again." she said, but she didn't look like she really minded.

Alice smiled and said, "I disagree!" she smiled, at Rosalie, "I knew you'd come." with that she got up and grabbed her bag. "Rosalie, do you have a bag?"

"No, I left it behind." answered Emmett.

"I'm capable of answering questions directed at me, prick." answered Rosalie cockily.

"Well kill me now, for helping you out, you cold-hearted bitch." retorted a smirking Emmett.

"Okay, okay enough foreplay." giggled Alice. Rosalie and Emmett exchanged annoyed looks.

"Can you walk?" Edward asked Rosalie. She just nodded at him. "Then we should start going now, before another Emmett pops out of the nowhere."

We all got up, grabbed our bags, except for Rosalie who didn't have one, and started walking. The sun was hot and I was beginning to feel thirsty, I searched in my bag for the water bottle, took it out and drank.

After I put the water bottle back in the bag, I noticed Alice was walking next to me. "So, why don't you talk?" she asked me. I shrugged, I couldn't very well tell her why even if I wanted to. I get the feeling that Alice knows exactly why I don't talk.

We walk in comfortable silence, all we can hear is the crunching sound as we walk over tree branches and grass.

"Don't touch me, you pig!" Rosalie breaks the silence.

"It's not my fault you're uncoordinated and keep bumping into me!" counters Emmett.

"They were made for each other." Alice whispers, I smile because she's right.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

The sky was clouded, as it was almost all the day, it looked like it was going to rain.

"It's going to rain." Alice voices my opinion, only she sounds so sure of it. "We should find shelter."

As if on cue, between the thick trees I could faintly see the outline of a house ahead of us . A shiver runs down my spine, its cold. We walk to it, the boys walk inside first.

"They think we're so useless," Rosalie mutters. "Mostly that brute."

I think Rosalie likes Emmett but doesn't know what to do with her like for him, but I don't say anything and neither does Alice. Emmett comes out with his goofy smile and lets us know its safe. Alice walks in and then Rosalie, she pushes Emmett, "Out of the way, hulk." I walk in after her and Emmett shuts the door.

The shack, has no rooms. It's just one big room. Everything inside is a mess, there's a couch to the left but it's upside down. The chairs are bottom down on top of the tables, the portraits are also upside down, and there's dolls hanging by the neck on the ceiling. The shack gives off a eerie feeling to it, and I don't like it.

"Maybe we should go." Says Edward looking at my discomfort.

"Where do you think you're going?" A unfamiliar deranged voice says, coming out of the kitchen is a girl. She looks no older than 12. She has messy dirty blond hair with knots, she has a dirty face and her eyes hold dark circles around them. "Won't you stay to play with me?"

"What the hell, there was no one here when we checked." Emmett said, looking puzzled.

"You're useless." Rosalie bickers. Emmett looks like he's about to say something but gets cut off by the girl.

"You're mean! Shut up!" she screams, throwing her hands over her ears in an attempt to stop hearing Rosalie's insult. "I don't like meanies, I'll kill you!" She lunged herself at Rosalie.

"Whoa, whoa." Emmett panicked and tried grabbing the girl, she flicks the knife at him and a line of blood runs down his cheek. Emmett grabs the girl and bear hugs her. "Everyone out!" he yells after the girl effectively drops the knife. Jasper pulls Alice and they go outside, I stay still, shocked and staring at the crying girl.

Edward looks at me, "Come on we have to go, that girl is crazy." He wraps an arm around my waist and lifts me up, carrying me outside. Jasper and Alice are nowhere to be found.

"NO! NO! don't go.." We hear the girl screaming from inside, "Don't leave me! Play with me!" Emmett and Rosalie are still inside the shack. We hear footsteps ahead of us, I expected to see Alice and Jasper but instead there was a woman standing in front of us. She has red wavy hair that looks like flames when the wind dances around her. She's wearing a black button up shirt and navy blue jeans with red shiny heels.

"Hello, Hello." She coos at us. "I take it you're with the other couple?" She licks her glossy red lips in a disturbing way.

"Where are they? What have you done to them?" Edward asks, his voice has a ring of control to it. His grip on me tightens.

The woman chuckles, "My, my, but aren't you a feisty one." Edward just snarls, the woman's face turns serious as she speaks. "I've done nothing to them, Laurent is chasing them through the woods, I get to take care of you." She coos, seductively.

"We're going to have to run, okay?" Edward whispers lightly into my ear, I shiver as his breath tickles my neck. I nod and his grip loosens, he grabs my hand and begins running while pulling me after him.

"Where do you think you're going?!" The woman yells after us. "You won't get far!" We hear her running behind us.

Edward fastens his pace, but being the clumsy knucklehead that I am, I trip and fall. He swiftly picks me up and we run again. I burry my head in his shoulder and look behind us. The woman isn't too close but I can tell she'll catch up if we give her the chance. Suddenly Edward does sharp turns.

"I'm going to try to lose her," he tells me, I nod and wonder if I'm heavy although he doesn't seem to be having trouble carrying me.

For a moment I lose sight of the woman but then I see her again, she looks angry. She begins cursing until she finally stops running after us, she puts her hands on her knees and breaths heavily. She shrinks smaller and smaller until she disappears from my sight. Edward keeps running though, putting a huge distance between us and her. Soon he starts to breath heavily too, I blush realizing that I must be heavy.

We pass a fallen tree, Edward stops running and walks towards it. "It looks like we'll have to spend the night here." He says, pointing at the cave under the tree. He puts me down and walks over to it. I look around to see if the woman doesn't suddenly appear out of nowhere but she doesn't.

"It's safe, we'll spend the night here and then we'll head back to the house to see if the rest of them are okay." I nod, and we both get under the shield of the huge tree. We place our bags to the side and sit on the floor. I suddenly become very conscious of him, the heat he radiates, his intoxicating sweet smell. The fact that it's only us two doesn't make it any better. An involuntary shiver runs through my body, I hug myself for warmth.

A pair of strong arms wrap around me, I turn to look at Edward, he looks uncomfortable. "Our body heat will make us warmer." He looks away, I smile and remember that I still have the curtain in my bag.

I pull out of his grasp and he looks hurt, before he says anything I reach into my bag and pull out the curtain. His expression changes to that of understanding and I drape the curtain over the both of us. I lay my head in his shoulders and he once again wraps his arms around me.

My heart exhilarates, it beats so loud that I'm sure he can hear it. Soon, it starts raining.

_God, I don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight._

**A/N: Expect some Edward and Bella alone time next chapter!**

**Leave me a nice review, if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask! I answer to every review.  
And like I said before, if you have any ideas you want to share PM them to me, I will give you credit for it.**


	7. The sound of silence

**A/N: Sorry for taking a very long time, I'm horrible I know. Do believe me when I say I wont abandon this fic, I may take a long time updating but I will update eventually. This story is rather hard to continue, seeing as i'm coming up with the plot line as I go. I only have a rough outline of where I want it to go but the details are still in the process Lol.****  
Sorry and thank you for sticking to this story, I appreciate everything.**

**Disclaimer**: Twilight and all its material are copyright to Stephenie Meyer; I do not own any aspect of the series nor do I claim to

.

**Chapter 6: My thoughts were so loud I couldn't hear my voice.**

**Thursday, February 21**

Much to my amazement, I must have dozed off at some point because when I woke up the rain was gone and Edward was still asleep. His hair stuck to his forehead and beads of sweat ran down his face to his neck.

A strange feeling was gnawing at my insides and I wanted to touch his neck, I shook my head. The motion seemed to have woken up Edward, who looked disoriented and let out a yawn.

Last nights events must have sunk in in that moment because his head whipped around looking for me, I assume, seeing as the rest of the members were not around. I looked down, feeling a mixture of happiness and fear. Happy that he seemed to have me in his mind as well, and fear for exactly that same reason. I was afraid that I would get too close and if I lost him... Not that I had him or anything, but if he just wasn't around anymore, I don't know what i'd do. Mainly now that everyone seemed to be separated.

I don't know why it scared me, seeing as this is how we started, alone. This is exactly why I didn't want to trust anyone, I wasn't even aware that I had trusted until now that they were gone and I felt the need to have them back.

My distressed must have been written all over my face which was nothing new, I had always been known for being an open book, I didn't speak but I didn't need to, my emotions betrayed me anyways.

"Hey, don't worry, after we have something to eat we can head out to look for them." I simply nodded, his voice was enough to soothe me, though the panic was somewhere behind my mind waiting to sink its fangs in.

"Can you look at me? Please?" I lifted my sight towards him, his face betrayed no emotion and I wondered what he was thinking.

I wanted to ask him, I really did. The curiosity was overwhelming and even more so the thought of hearing my own voice, being able to say something, anything.

"Can you tell me what's on your mind?" His voice sounds fragile, as if he expected me to break into a thousand pieces or something. I look down, and try really hard to somehow find what gives my voice. But the action is rusty and I haven't tried doing so in 3 years.

"You don't have to if you don't—"

"I can't." My voice surprises me. Its so puny and alien.

Edward looks startled, I look away and regret speaking. Nothing good ever comes of me speaking, there was a reason why I never spoke, a reason that I seemed to have forgotten.

"What? What is it that you can't do?" And I know he knows what I said but he's encouraging me to talk.

I clear my throat, a miserable attempt at speaking again. Now my voice isn't there at all and I shrug. Something keen to failure creeps upon me, and I wish more than anything that I could find my voice. That I could show Edward I'm not just a pile of worthlessness but I can't find it in me, and I realize that must be exactly what I am.

"Isabella, will you please look at me?" I sneak a peak, his eyes are intensely imploring. I look away.

"Please, Isabella." And I get sick of hearing him say my name like that.

"Bella." My voice is a weak, unreliable thing. I try again, "Call me Bella."

"Bella.." He repeats, testing out the sound of it. A smile makes its way on his face.

"Its.." My voice gives out for a second and I close my eyes, trying really hard to concentrate. "..difficult to talk."

"It's okay." When I open my eyes again, he gives me a comprehending look. I smile, because just maybe it will be okay. "It'll be okay." He repeats again, as if confirming it to himself.

"I feel.." My voice cracks again and I get frustrated. Why can't I speak normally? Why does my voice leave me? I breath in and out. "I feel like I'll be losing." When the words finally come out, a feeling of relief washes over me, leaving me baffled.

Edward's eyebrow furrows in a cute, confusing way before asking, "What do you think you'll lose?"

This time, I try looking him straight in the eyes. I want my voice to sound controlled and normal.

"I don't know." Instead I sound lost and helpless.

"I.." But my voice gives out and I know it will cooperate no longer.

I feel really tired, awfully so. I got that head-achy feeling you get once you step out of an air-conditioned room into the blaring sunlight. My mind is reeling on the fact that I spoke but my body is wasted and all I want is to nap. My eyelids feel heavy and begin drooping.

I suppose Edward sees the tiredness in me because he opts for getting us some food. And even though it's still morning, I curl up into a ball and sleep. And sleep.

**XXXXXXXXXX**

I must have slept all morning because the next thing I know, Edward is lightly shaking my shoulder and saying something about food.

I sit up and realize that I'm hungry, really hungry. I could eat a cow, really. Luckily I don't have to, not that there's any cows here anyways.

We spend the next hour trying to start a fire and after finally getting one started, Edward begins cooking some eggs he brought from a birds nest. There is a variety of fruits and I'm really thankful for Edwards ability to hunt and gather.

After a much needed meal, we pack up our stuff and tried to find the path in which we came from. Unfortunately, due to us trying to lose the red haired demon from before, we also lost our way.

Edward fetched the compass in our bag, while I wondered if he knew how to use it. I know I should consider asking him this, but I don't. Instead, I watch him as he aligns the arrow on the compass to point north and guides us further into the forest.

I couldn't be sure how much time passed but it must have been quite a while because my legs were aching and I was beginning to think we were just walking in circles.

I was about to try to voice my opinions when the old shack suddenly came to sight. I wasn't sure if to feel relieved or afraid, but apparently my indecisive mind conceded to feeling both.

I looked around the shack, around the trees, anything I had in sight to make sure there was no traps or people waiting to ambush. A chill ran down my spine and I slowly reached out for the hem of Edward's sweater, holding on tight and looking down.

I felt Edwards eyes on me, which only made my face heat up at the fatuous notion of what I was doing but instead of laughing or shaking me off, Edward holds onto my hand and together we walk towards the shack, hoping to find them inside and safe.

But that was too much to ask for because when we entered the shack there was not a single soul inside, apart from us. The creaky floors seemed to sound louder in the silence surrounding us. There was bloody footprints running out the door and disappearing into the abyss that was this forsaken place.

"It must have been the little girl from before, those footsteps are too small for an adults." Edwards eyebrows scrunched up in a really cute way that gave me weak knees, as he crouched to further inspect the bloody foot print.

I wanted to get the hell out of this place, it oozed 'creepy and deranged' all over. After looking around the shack some more and packing a few items for later use, we went back outside where the sky looked angry and puffy gray clouds hovered above us, taunting with their threat to rain.

I really didn't like the rain. I enjoyed it when I was in the safe comfort of indoors, with a cup of hot chocolate and marshmallows, but this wasn't the case.

"We'll have to keep moving, we can relocate with them later." Edward grabbed my hand again and made to keep walking but I came to a halt, causing him to look back at me in question.

My mouth opened, and I tried voicing out my question to no avail. I closed my eyes and concentrated on remembering how to speak.

"What if.." My voice was hoarse and I had to cough a couple of times before I could continue. "What if they come back here?"

Edward contemplated this before reaching out into our bag and pulling out a pocket knife. I watched as he carved the words 'MOVE ON, A, J, E, R.' into the door frame of the shack. I lifted my eyebrow at him, _what if they didn't notice?_

"With any hope, if they come back they'll see this and move on. I don't want to give us away though, so I had to be discreet about it." He closed up the pocket knife and handed it to me. "You should probably carry this on you as well." I nodded and put it in my left pocket, the taser being on my right one.

We walked for a good twenty minutes when a beeping noise was heard not too far. Edward and I looked at each other in unison, shock and fear written all over our faces. He pulled me behind a bush, putting a finger to his lips in a symbol for silence. I nodded, closing my eyes and trying hard to decipher how far the noise was.

"I'm going to go check it out, you stay here. If I don't come back in 5 minutes I want you to keep heading as far away as possible and find the others. Do not trust anyone else, absolutely no one." He hushed to whisper this before trying to jump back out but I held him tight.

My hands were shaking but my grip was firm. "Please.." I whispered, ".. you have to come back." I did not dare to look him in the eyes, for fear of finding disgust at my weakness.

He placed a hand on both of my cheeks, lifting my face to his level and resting his forehead on mine. "I will come back."

The wind carried his words away, and he was gone.

**A/N: Cliffy! How I love those cliffhangers ;]**  
**Leave me a review if you think I should continue this story or drop it.**


	8. You remind me of the moon

**A/N: It's been three months, believe me when I say tough times. BUT here it is :) I did get a few favorites so thank you, thank you ! I currently have no beta so you will most likely find a couple mistakes, I am sorry in advance. I dislike grammatical errors in stories but hey, I'm only human. Also, this chapter doesn't have much exciting action but it is necessary, so enjoy !  
**

**Disclaimer**: Twilight and all its material are copyright to Stephenie Meyer; I do not own any aspect of the series nor do I claim to.

**Chapter 7: You remind me of the face on the moon, he looks as lonely as you.**

**Friday, February 22**

It had been approximately half an hour, give or take, since Edward had left to follow the beeping noise. I heard the noise a couple more times since then, after that, all I heard was silence. Suffocating, unadulterated silence. I had my head between my knees, my eyes closed and concentrated on hearing whatever I could.

I remembered Edward telling me to leave if he didn't come back in five minutes but I couldn't.

I was debating to myself whether I should go out and look for him when I heard the unmistakable sound of footsteps. They weren't too near yet but they sounded precise and heading this direction.

It had to be Edward. But I knew it wasn't, there was more than one person walking.

About a minute later, I no longer heard the steps. I was perplexed and wanting to stick my head out of the bush to see around. I was about to do just that when I heard the shrilled voice of the little girl we ran into the day before at the shed.

I could feel my eyes widening and my pulse quicken. I did not move a single muscle, hoping they could just leave.

That was the plan until I heard Rosalie moan and Emmett softly telling her to be quiet. This made my heart clench, painfully so. I quickly assessed the situation and tried finding my best solution. But I already knew life wasn't easy and not everything goes your way.

Without a second thought, I slowly and quietly peaked my head out, little by little.

At first, I saw nothing, but then a pair of dirty little feet came twirling in my sight. I gave a slight jump and stuck my head in a little more so I could see them and they couldn't see me.

Then I saw Emmett walking with a semi-conscious Rosalie in his arms. There was a gash of blood running down Emmett's arm and he had a slight limp to his steps.

Behind Rosalie and Emmett was a dark male with braided long hair and a nasty scar under his chin, I assumed this was the 'Laurent' the red head from before was talking about. He looked big and well built, nothing like Emmett though.

I felt around my pockets, remembering that all the weapon I had with me was a taser and pocket knife. What could I do? I had no idea, probably nothing useful.

I resisted a sigh.

I knew Edward would be furious if he found out I was even thinking of jumping out and doing something on my own, I know I am weak, I really know. But I also know that I can't just stay here hidden while I could at least try to help them.

With this in mind, I took out my pocket knife and waited for Laurent, who was a considerable amount of steps behind, to come a little closer.

I felt around the ground, keeping my eyes on Laurent, and grabbed a rock. This was the best I could do. So I chucked it to the furthest opposite side of me, it hit its target: a tree.

This slight noise made Laurent turn his attention towards the tree and away from me. I took this as my chance and stuck the taser out of the bush, pointing it directly at his chest and shooting.

I was relieved it was a taser and not a stun gun because with the latter it is ineffective unless you are right by your target, which would defeat the purpose of my hiding.

I was almost afraid the current wouldn't be enough to immobilize him but it was and with a pleasant thud he fell to the ground, twitching. This made Emmett turn around frantically and the little girl came running to Laurent.

I slid back into the bush immediately, on impulse. I later realized that only the little girl was left and I couldn't very well tase her so I came out pointing the tasing gun at the little girl.

"Who the hell are you?" She sneered, her hair was blond and sticking in every direction, making her look like one of the dismantled dolls that were hanging on the shed by the neck.

Laurent is still twitching on the floor and Emmett looks relieved, he puts Rosalie down while I distract the little girl by pointing the gun.

I almost feel like answering her, because it feels so good to talk but I know I can't. My voice has left along with the green eyed prisoner who never came back._ Edward_...

I pushed that thought aside, concentrating on the girl and feeling a bit foolish for doing so. She was no older than 12 and here I was pointing my taser at her. But I didn't lower it because she's here for a reason and I don't know her.

Emmett comes to me and I pass him the taser, he grabs the little girl by her wrists and holds her like that. This action reminds me that we have some rope in the bag, one we picked up from the shack.

I hold up a finger, gesturing to Emmett that I'd be back. I run back to the bush and pull out the bag, placing it next to Rosalie and taking out a long rope. I cut two long ropes with my pocket knife and put the rest back into the bag. I hand him the ropes and he hands me the taser, I put it back into my pocket.

The little girl is nagging and threatening to no avail, annoying more than anything else. I briefly wonder how she got this way because I'm sure there was no 12 year old in this game at the beginning, maybe she was already in this land before we got here.

She begins screaming and at this point I know we can no longer just leave her like that. So I hold my finger tight against the spot that I know will knock her out and when it does, she falls limp to the ground. I shake my head at Emmett because he looks like he's about to ask me where I learned that from. I wasn't about to tell him I learned that from my father, the man I killed with my words.

So Emmett ties a rope around the girls wrists and proceeds to tying her to a tree far away from us, then does the same with the unconscious Laurent, making sure to tie it extra tight. After this, he makes a point of searching for any weapons on them, he takes their bag too.

While he's dong this he asks me what happened to Edward, Alice and Jasper. I look down, searching for my voice but it's not there so I just shrug.

I wanted to ask him what happened to him and Rosalie and if they were fine. I wanted to tell him that Edward might be in danger but we were all in danger and I was useless with my voice.

Rosalie began coughing and moaning. We turned our attention to her, I raised my eyebrows at Emmett in question.

"After we separated back at the shed, we were followed by some red headed bitch. Seriously, she stole the fucking trophy at being a bitch from Rosalie." He shook his head but when his eyes landed on Rosalie, they softened. "So we kind of lost her but then this guy and this little girl found us. I tried to fight him off but between the both of them it was difficult." There was regret and anger in his eyes, both emotions much too strong and wrong.

He sighed and sat beside Rosalie, pulling her head softly on his lap. "She must be tired.." he trailed off, lost in his thoughts, I assume.

I pull the bag open and take out some rags and alcohol we took from the hospital before. I cleaned the gash on his arm and wrapped the rag tightly. It was a knife wound and it wasn't too deep but it wasn't anything to ignore.

I close the bag and motion for him to pick up Rosalie and follow me. We walk back to the bush I was hiding at earlier and crawl within it, away from sight.

I grab a twig and begin scrawling on the mud the words I cannot speak to him.

I tell him how Edward left and said he'd be back. How I don't know anything about Jasper and Alice. I tell him I'm scared and he hugs me.

And I don't know why but this makes me cry, I no longer remember how it felt to be hugged, how it felt to be cared for and remembered.

Emmett is so big and strong, and so sweet and gentle. I wonder if this is how a brother feels like, and I know i'm going down the wrong path of thoughts. Down the path of something I'd never have. So instead I close my eyes and concentrate on the feeling of comfort.

Emmett tells me we have to move on, and I know he's right but I can't. I plead him with my eyes but he tells me we have to go and I nod.

Before leaving, I scrawl on the bark of the tree by the bush: _Move on E._

Emmett picks up Rosalie and I pick up the bag. A couple hours later, the sky is getting darker and we haven't crossed a single place to stay in. I'm growing tired and Rosalie is growing restless, I can only imagine how tired Emmett must be, though he doesn't show it.

Soon, I start hearing running water. My head shoots up and I close my eyes, I hear the sound of the water coming from the east side. I was well aware that Emmett could not hear the water, I had a stronger sense of hearing, probably due to my loss of voice.

Emmett is looking at me confused and I make the motion of waves with my hands and point east. He gets it and we're both relieved to find water. A couple wrong turns and we find the river bank.

"We can't stay here long, though." Emmett says as he splashes water on his face and wets a rag to clean up Rosalie's. I nod, completely understanding that the river was too loud.

We take out the water bottles from the bag and begin refilling them with the river water. I pick out a stick and write to Emmett on the mud that I want to take a quick bath.

"Sure, make it fast because I want to take one as well and I'm sure so does Rosalie." This makes me smile because he's always thinking of Rosalie. And I wonder if Edward thinks of me too, although this makes me frown because I don't know how he is and the thought of him... dead, it just brought this whole new feeling of despair, one I was much too well acquainted with.

I write on the mud, again, that we should wake up Rosalie and have her take a bath along with me seeing as we're both females. He nods and we wake her up, she is all up for taking a quick bath.

Emmett walks off a little into the woods, turning his back on us for privacy and we take off our clothes and jump into the river. It is heaven. There's no soap but I swim around for a while, hoping all the dirt and dried blood leaves my body.

Afterward, we change back into our clothes and lay against a tree as Emmett jumpes into the river.

Rosalie is combing her hair with her fingers, asking me questions I couldn't answer. I don't think she cared that I couldn't answer them, she asked them anyways.

After Emmett finished up, we continued heading south, stopping only when we came across food. We never came across shelter or anyone else.

Then it got too dark to continue walking, we settled in between some trees and decided to take turns as the watch out. First shift was mine, since I wasn't sleepy at all and I was the better rested one of the three of us.

I noticed that I couldn't see a single star in the sky tonight. I wonder if the sky felt lonely, with no stars illuminating its premises. I spent my shift thinking about everything going on.

Where was Edward? Was he thinking of me too? And what about Alice and Jasper? Did we all deserve this? Would we make it out? And what if we did, what then?

But all my questions were answered with more questions and never answers. The night drags on and comes alive, all the while I stop and die a little more, waiting for my green eyed prisoner to return.


End file.
